Ohioans for Responsible Solutions launches chapters in Columbus and Cleveland

The gun violence prevention group founded by former
Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on July 27 announced the launch of
Ohioans for Responsible Solutions, which will continue the
organization’s efforts to support officials who back responsible gun
legislation.
The new chapters, in Cleveland and Columbus, are part of
Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS), which Giffords and her
husband, retired Navy Captain and astronaut Mark Kelly, launched in January.
“People in the Buckeye State know the terrible toll gun
violence takes on communities,” ARS Executive Director Pia Carusone said
in a statement. “We’re excited about what the 18,000-plus Ohioans for
Responsible Solutions will accomplish because they represent a rich
cross-section of the community: gun owners and non-gun owners alike, law
enforcement officials, victims of gun violence, faith leaders, moms
and voters of all political stripes from every part of the state.”
Giffords’ organization says it is not anti-gun — Giffords
and Kelly are both gun owners — instead arguing that the gun lobby’s
influence has kept legislators from passing common-sense legislation
that most Americans support.
A Gallup poll conducted April 22-25 found 65 percent of
Americans believed the U.S. Senate should have passed a measure to
expand background checks for gun purchases and ban some semi-automatic
weapons, which the Senate failed to pass April 17 because of procedural
steps requiring 60 votes to pass. The final vote was 54 in favor and 46
against. Twenty-nine percent
of Americans agreed with the Senate’s failure to pass the measure, and 6
percent had no opinion. The poll had a margin of error of +/-4
percentage points.
In January — just a month after the shooting massacre in
Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults — Gallup found 91
percent of Americans support required background checks for all gun
sales. The poll asked respondents about each of nine key proposals
included in President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce gun violence. The
two least-supported proposals still had majority support, but these
issues turned out to be at the center of the legislation that failed to pass
the Senate four months later: reinstating a ban on assault weapons (60-percent support),
and limiting the sale of ammunition magazines to those with 10 rounds
or less (54-percent support).
Giffords has become one of the nation’s highest-profile
gun violence prevention activists since a shooting in 2011 that left her
partially paralyzed. Giffords survived the assassination attempt on Jan.
8, 2011 in Tucson, Ariz., when a mentally ill man shot her in the head
at a political event outside a grocery store. The man then fired on
other people, killing six and wounding 12 total.
Giffords and Kelly participated in the Northside Fourth
of July parade early this month as part of Americans for Responsible
Solutions’ “Rights and Responsibilities” cross-country tour promoting
the organization’s goal of advocating for candidates that support
responsible gun policies that protect both the public and the rights of
gun owners. CityBeat covered the event here.
“Stopping gun violence takes courage. The courage to do
right, the courage of new ideas,” Giffords told the Northside crowd
during a press event before the parade. “I’ve seen great courage when my
life was on the line. Now is the time to come together to be
responsible. Democrats, Republicans, everyone. We must do something.
Fight, fight, fight.”
Americans for Responsible Solutions announced this week
that its super PAC has raised $6.5 million so far this year and more
than 500,000 members. At this point it has not announced any plans for a Cincinnati
chapter.

John Deatrick is taking over as project executive of the Cincinnati streetcar project, moving on from his previous work as project manager of The Banks. Deatrick’s hiring announcement happened in April, but it was delayed while City Council fixed the project’s budget gap. Deatrick and his team previously won an award
for their work at The Banks, and he says he will bring the same scrutiny
and success to the streetcar project. A new project manager for The
Banks is set to be hired in August. Since the streetcar project’s
inception, it has been mired in misrepresentations and political
controversy, which CityBeat covered in further detail here.
Local business leaders are calling on the city government to change its contracting policies to target minority- and women-owned businesses. Advocates argue the city’s inclusion rates have greatly dropped
since Cincinnati did away with its inclusion program in the 1990s, but
the city administration points out the rates are likely understated
because women- and minority-owned businesses are no longer required to report
themselves as minorities or women. The business leaders say the figures are too low regardless,
which could have big implications since minority-owned businesses are
more likely to hire minorities, who have twice the unemployment rate as
white residents. As a result of court rulings, Cincinnati needs to first
conduct a disparity study before it makes any changes that specifically target minorities or women.
Gabrielle Giffords’s anti-gun violence organization is opening an Ohio chapter
to promote legislation that intends to protect both the public
and the rights of gun owners. Giffords, a former U.S. representative
who survived an assassination attempt, has been touring around the
country — at one point coming to Cincinnati
— to speak out against gun violence. Gun control legislation
failed in the U.S. Senate in April after it fell short of getting 60 votes to overcome
procedural hurdles, even though polling shows a clear majority of
Americans favor such legislation.
Local government funding may be further reduced
as a result of recent tax cuts because the Local Government Fund traditionally gets a percent of state tax revenue. Specifically, critics are concerned
less state tax revenue will slow down “natural growth” in funding to
cities and counties. Last week, an analysis from Policy Matters Ohio
found the recently passed two-year state budget already reduces local government funding, following even steeper reductions in the previous budget. The cuts since Gov. John Kasich took office have cost Cincinnati more than $22 million.
A traffic camera ban would cost Ohio cities and counties millions of dollars in revenue.
Ohio gas prices are starting down this week.
Home-schooled and private-school students have a right to play on public school teams because of a provision in the recently passed state budget.
When Columbus’ parking meters were upgraded to accept credit cards, revenue jumped by 13.2 percent. Cincinnati’s meters will be upgraded as part of the parking privatization plan.Ohio air bases are undergoing review
this week as part of Congress’ attempts to gauge whether the nation’s
Air Force is prepared for current and future missions and homeland
defense.
Slow news day, Enquirer?
Florida researchers found “fat shaming” actually perpetuates obesity.
It would probably take 300 to 500 piranhas five minutes to strip the flesh off a 180-pound human.

Former Congresswoman to be in town on gun-violence prevention tour

Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
will appear in next week's Northside 4th of July Parade as part of a
nationwide tour supporting responsible gun legislation, according to parade organizers.
Giffords was scheduled to be in town on
July 4 as part of a gun-violence prevention tour called The Rights and Responsibilities Tour, and her team
reached out to the Northside parade organizers with an interest in participating in something celebratory, according to Northside 4th of
July Parade co-coordinator Ollie Kroner.
The former Congresswoman from
suburban Arizona was the victim of an assassination attempt in
Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 8, 2011 that killed six and injured 12. Giffords
was shot in the head but has recovered some of her ability to walk,
speak and write. She resigned from Congress about a year after the
shooting and has focused on gun-safety measures. Giffords and her
husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, founded the Americans for Responsible
Solutions political action committee, which advocates for candidates
that support responsible policies that protect both the public and
the rights of gun owners.
The Rights and Responsibilities
Tour began in Nevada July 1 and was scheduled to make stops in
Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota and Ohio.Northside parade co-coordinator Chuck Brown says he was contacted by a Democratic Party representative who then offered the Northside parade as an option for Giffords to make a public appearance while she's in town. Brown says the plan is to put together a press conference in the parade staging area for Giffords' cause. "This is an amazing thing," Brown says. "We feel honored, and I think most people in Northside — I can't speak for everyone — but in general I think we're pretty empathetic to her message. Most people I know would agree that there must be something
done about gun violence and she's a figure that I think people can
really identify with. I think she is an inspiration for
a lot of people in the way that she's willing to be visible and take a
stand."
In a statement kicking off the tour, Giffords' husband, Kelly, said: “I’ve been around guns my whole life, and I know that
as an American, my right to own a firearm goes hand in hand with my
obligation to be a responsible gun owner and to do my part to make
sure guns don’t fall into the hands of criminals or dangerously
mentally ill people. Gabby and I are excited to hit the road this
summer and meet so many of the great Americans who are standing with
us to fight for common-sense solutions to prevent gun violence and
protect our rights.”
The Northside 4th of July Parade will
take place noon July 4 and travel south on Hamilton Avenue through
the Northside business district.
CityBeat reached out to Giffords'
people for comment and will update this blog when we hear back.

Other winners include U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

A well-known Cincinnati philanthropist
is among four people selected to receive the first-ever Women of Distinction
Award by the national YWCA.
Francie Pepper is being
recognized for her years of work in support of issues involving women, girls
and racial justice.
Pepper has served on the
board of the Cincinnati YWCA since 1996, and also served as chair of its board
from 2000-04. She has played a critical role for women who have experienced
domestic violence, co-chairing a YWCA capital campaign that raised $7.5 million
for a larger shelter that tripled the agency’s capacity to serve battered women
and their children so they wouldn’t have to be put on a waiting list.
Also, some campaign funds
were used to restore the YWCA’s historic headquarters, located on Walnut Street
downtown, add a childcare center to the facility.
Further, Pepper has volunteered
for numerous organizations and causes in Greater Cincinnati, and her work in
support of domestic violence awareness programs has gotten national
recognition. She is a major supporter of the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith
College, an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, archives,
photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history, including
all of the YWCA’s historical files.
Francie Pepper is the wife of
John Pepper, who previously served as the chairman of the board at both Procter
& Gamble and The Walt Disney Co.; she is the mother of David Pepper, a
former Cincinnati city councilman and Hamilton County commissioner.
The Women of Distinction
Award, bestowed by the YWCA USA, honors professional women from the private and
public sectors across the United States who have demonstrated excellence,
leadership and integrity in their fields and in the community, serving as role
models for other successful women.
Nominations from YWCAs across
the United States were solicited to find leaders whose work has made an impact
on women’s economic empowerment and racial justice.
Other award recipients this
year are:
• Congresswoman Gabrielle
Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived an assassination attempt in January 2011, and
is recovering from her injuries;
• Lt. Col. Tammy Duckworth,
an Iraq War veteran and ex-Army helicopter pilot who combat wounds led to the
amputation of her legs and cost her the use of her right arm; and• Elouise Cobell, a Native
American leader who challenged the United States' mismanagement of trust funds
belonging to more than 500,000 individual Native Americans, leading to a $3.4
billion settlement.